Apple appears to be preparing to roll out its Apple Maps bike path feature in Australia, which is a huge win for cyclist across the country.
One eagle-eyed Reddit user from Melbourne spotted an Apple employee appearing to map a local bike path.
“Good news for all 8 users of Apple Maps – bike path coverage is coming soon!” Reddit user u/afterdawnoriginal shared.
Apple Maps bike-route feature was announced during last year’s WWDC presentation as part of the iOS 14 update.
Bike routes include helpful information such as traffic, stairs, elevation and distance to ensure you’re not going to start cycling up a path that is too steep or busy for your liking.
The feature has already been rolled out in California, New York, Portland, Seattle, London and mainland China to mixed results in the last week.
In particular, the routes in San Francisco were criticised for Apple’s poor handling of the hilly landscape, with locals pointing out that residents simply would not take those bike paths.
Apple is yet to announce if or when the feature will be rolled out in Australia, but the aforementioned cities were quietly added to the list, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Melbourne joins the list in the coming weeks or months.
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iPhone users in cities that already have the feature reported getting a push notification when the feature went live in their area.
In addition to the bike route feature, iOS 14.5 has also introduced incident reporting, allowing users to report crashes, hazards and speed cameras to other users, much like Waze.
The incident reporting feature allows iPhone users to talk to Siri to report crashes and other hazards. Alternatively, they can manually input the hazard on their device or CarPlay.
If that wasn’t already enough, the new update also allows users who are walking and/or cycling to share their estimated arrival time (ETA) with their friends and family.
The iOS 14.5 update is available for download now.
Gizmodo Australia has reached out to Apple for comment.